


Dale Cooper - Celtic Cross Tarot Reading

by RedemptionByFire (steelneena)



Category: Twin Peaks
Genre: Not a Story, Tarot, this is an actual reading
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-26
Updated: 2017-04-26
Packaged: 2018-10-24 03:37:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10733337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/steelneena/pseuds/RedemptionByFire
Summary: During one of our talks for the MLMT episode of @Lynzee005 Bickering Peaks podcast, we discussed the fact that Dale Cooper is definitely a Tarot sort of man. And I offered to read his! The spread used is the Celtic Cross.





	Dale Cooper - Celtic Cross Tarot Reading

**Author's Note:**

> This is really possible, I assure you , because a television character, or a book character, is real in a certain sense, and their emotions and aura are something you can channel. For this special reading I used my general set up: My candle, and crystals etc. Two things changed in order to help me focus on Dale Cooper’s energies. I listened to the Twin Peaks theme instead of my usual atmospheric melodies (check out Adrien von Ziegler) and I chose a particular item through which to channel his energy - my Nazar from Turkey, which I thought fit quite well to his intuitive tendencies to serve as a talisman stand in for an actual person.
> 
> I started with an 8 minute meditation to really open up my intuitive senses, considering that any ‘distance’ reading is more difficult to channel.
> 
> The Deck used in the reading is the Universal Waite Tarot, a variant on the Rider Waite-Smith deck.
> 
> Below you will find a comprehensive ‘reading’ and picture of the spread. It came out scarily precise, and I’m so excited to share it with you all.

 

A Celtic Cross reading, for those who don’t know, is a fairly traditional and comprehensive reading. It can be fairly difficult to interpret because of the amount of cards and the necessity to read them together as a whole, rather than as separate pieces, however, if your deck is working with you and your intuition is flowing, you can piece the puzzle together, even when not quite as experienced as others. I’m fairly amateur yet, but my decks are patient and helpful and very aware of my shortcomings. 

Please bare in mind that each person reads and interprets cards differently. Such is the nature of the thing. 

I will present each position, what it signifies and how the card fits into that concept. At the end, I will provide a cohesive summary/picture under “Outcome” of what this spread is saying to/for Dale Cooper. I have written addressing Dale in the third person instead of the first.  

* * *

 

**Card 1: The Present - Position, center.**

Inverse Page of Swords:

The Page of Swords is focused on using the mind, being truthful, being just and having fortitude. All things which Dale Cooper generally is. He stands with his sword at the ready, fleet of foot, but yet looks back. He signifies here the urgency of the challenge at hand, that there is an opportunity present. It’s tenuous, but its there, waiting. In the inverse position, this signifies a weakened state of being in terms of these attributes. Dale is on the precipice. At the present, his journey has only just gotten more serious, and there is a darkness ahead which he must face, even in this uncertain state. A journey of the spirit, perhaps. 

**Card 2: The Challenge - Position, cross-ways over Card 1.**

The Three of Swords:

The Three of Swords is characteristic of heartbreak, loneliness and betrayal. The image of the swords stabbing into the heart is universal for these feelings. This comes through in multiple ways for Dale. Where we have left him, he is separated from not only those closest to him, but from his own self. He is wholly isolated. This challenge manifests in the pain of his knowledge that he’s lost absolutely everything he holds dear, as well as his ability to affect any of it. This painful truth is at the crux of his challenge. In being cut off, Dale is effectively rendered incapable of doing the things he would normally in order to bypass a challenge. 

**Card 3: The Past - Position, to the left of center from Card 1.**

Inverse Queen of Cups:

This card and in this position is particularly telling.  She sits on her throne,not looking out to the sea around her but contemplating the cup at hand, which is intricate and beautiful. She is loving and tenderhearted, and highly characteristic of intuition - an attribute most commonly associated with Dale Cooper. She is spiritual in nature and filled with psychic openness and awareness, all things which Dale is known for having been. He, like she, isn’t moody, but understands and recognizes the moods, emotions and situations in others.  However, she is in the inverse, which is also characteristic of a struggle. 

The Queen of Cups can be paired with the Page of Swords here, as they are both court cards. Together, a Queen and a Page represent the dichotomy between the aspects we associate with childhood and adulthood: seriousness vs. lightheartedness, responsibility vs. carefree nature, jaded knowledge vs. innocent hearts. 

Seeing as these are also Cups and Swords, we can compare the suits in tandem. Cups and Swords are at odds as well: Air vs. Water elements, thoughts vs. feelings, truth vs. love, logic vs. emotion and reason vs. intuition. 

This fits Dale quite well, as we know that he often struggles to find harmony between these elements of his person and character, which harmonizes with the inverse position of both the Page and the Queen as well as their combined meanings. Dale’s past has led him to this point in the present: he is unable to harmonize himself, which has caused a rift in his journey, leaving him vulnerable to negative energies.

**Card 4: The Future - Position, to the right of center from Card 1.**

Knight of Cups:

This card also is highly characteristic of one aspect of Dale’s nature, though it works as a double edged sword. A knight in shining armor sits on his white horse, headed out into the world on a quest. This is Dale to a tee. He believes himself to be this knight. Analog to the idea of a knight is his position as a federal agent. It is not only his job but his calling to _save_  people. He almost believes it to be an obligation. However, this future is not one that is far away, but one that is near. Dale’s belief that he must be the one to save others will spur him to attempt to do just that. Care should be taken in regards to this card, because it also focuses on a dichotomy; The knight taking up a quest is a very romantic notion that must be tempered with reality, and the Knight of Cups is significant in that it symbolizes that Dale is unaware of such reality. He cannot always be the knight, and nor is it realistic that he be expected to save everyone and right everything that is wrong with the world. This notion could be considered dangerously fanciful, and could spell inevitable trouble, both for Dale himself and for others in the pursuit of his quest. Indeed, one might say that this is a continuation of things which have already happened.

This card is in the upright, showing that it is working in full force. 

Paired with the Queen, the Knight signifies an imbalance between caution and risk, between stability and instability and the Page and the Knight together focuses on the ideas of questioning and accepting. Dale is most certainly in this in between place. 

**Card 5: Above - Position, above center from Card 1. Signifies Goals and aspirations - the consciousness of the situation**

Inverse 8 of Pentacles:

This card depicts a young man, alone, invested in his work. In the upright, it implies hard work, diligence, knowledge and attention to detail. These are all things which consciously, Dale is working towards. He is the lone agent on the case, but his focus slips as he loses sight of a strong goal after the capture of Leland, and with the introduction of Windom Earle back into his life, as well as the heightening of his romantic notions with the introduction of another love interest into his circle of influence. While these things are still in his field of vision, he’s been distracted and begun to loose focus. He desires to gain an understanding of the world, of the things which are happening to him, to the town, hoping to discover what Windom is after, but looks not within but rather without in this attempt. By denying his intuition - the Queen of Cups from his past - he put the acquisition of his goals in danger. 

**Card 6: Below - Position, below center from Card 1. Signifies what is happening in the subconscious, those things which are not yet fully realized, but are acting on the querent.**

Inverse Hierophant:

The Hierophant is decked in the iconography of his institution and works as analogue to Cooper’s position in the Government, fully rooted in establishment ideals of law and order based on set rules by the institution in question. The Hierophant is the champion of establishment ways. This often includes the idea of teamwork, as an institution is made up of parts. The subconscious thoughts here are focused on such things as practical knowledge/education, conforming to a pre-set role and subscribing to rules. 

This is later reinforced by the 3 of Cups and the 3 of pentacles. 

Dale clings to his ties with the FBI subconsciously, bound by law and order despite his intuitive nature, representing a dichotomy of self and a disharmony within his own core values. Especially with the temporary loss of his position with the FBI, the physical ties to law enforcement are tenuous, which both weakens and strengthens these ideas. While he is perhaps more focused on the idea subconsciously, he has also had the opportunity to fling himself consciously to the opposite extreme. Dale is also partnerless - indeed pitted against his former partner, which subverts the idea of an upright hierophant, wherein teamwork would normally be a characteristic. 

**Card 7: Advice - Position, bottom of the column.**

Inverse 3 of Cups:

The 3 of Cups reinforces the subconscious ideas of the Hierophant, and, in the inverse position, continues to highlight the ongoing internal struggle that Dale is engaged in. The 3 of Cups shows a group of people who stand joyously together, and evokes the image of persons who have fully embraced the idea of community, partnership, friendship and love. The are taking joy in life. 

For Dale, this advice is sound. With the 8 of pentacles, we’ve seen that he is walking a lonely road as it were; despite his connections with the people in Twin Peaks, like his friendship with Truman, or his connection with Audrey and Annie, and despite the occasional visit from Gordon or Albert of Denise, Dale is still essentially a loner. He sits apart from the others, despite his obvious interest in joining them, going so far as to look at property, but falling back into the role previously set for him institutionally. He would have greater happiness, and success, were he fully able and willing to engage with other people. Dale is troubled by his desire to achieve oneness and community, primarily because of his inability to retain it - the position in the FBI leaves him transient and unable to settle.

**Card 8: External Influences - Position, second from bottom of column.**

Inverse 9 of Pentacles:

The 9 of Pentacles works in direct opposition to the 3 of pentacles, which follows with Dale’s trajectory very well. It depicts a woman, alone, who is reveling in substance around her. The events of Dale’s life as we know them have forced Dale to rely on himself and focus on self achievement and individualism. Teamwork in the past has backfired on him (Windom), and despite his willingness to engage with others and his awareness that others have valuable insight, like Truman or Audrey, he is first and foremost self reliant. Audrey assists him but, in the process, ends up in trouble at One-Eyed Jack’s. An event such as this only serves to push Dale further away from accepting community help because, with his romantic “knight in shining armor” notions, he is left understanding that because it was he she desired to help, then it is his fault she ends up in trouble in the first place, thus making it his obligation to save her. This stems most likely from his experience with Caroline and is seen again in his relationship with Annie, whom he seeks out because he recognizes that same nature in her, of something that he is obligated to _save._  The dichotomy of self is again present here as Cooper struggles between individuality and community. 

**Card 9: Hopes and Fears - Position, second from top of column.**

Inverse 3 of Pentacles:

The 3 of Pentacles is again reminiscent of teamwork and community, showing a group of possibly academics discussing something or solving a problem. This works as both hopes and fears because of Dale’s struggle. It is obvious that he desires to enter the community, but fears his reliance on others will harm them in the long run, and thus cannot fully commit to the idea, which hampers his progress on his journey. 

**Card 10: Outcome - Position, top of column.**

Inverse Temperance:

Temperance is a card that is focused on harmony and balance. This outcome is the most desirable for Dale. It features an angel, which is also significant in that angels represent absolution for those he believes harmed in his name or because of their care for him. Temperance is reinforced by the 3 of pentacles. Harmony is achievable for Dale, if he is able to balance his polar extreme nature. It will most likely be a difficult time to find and keep balance between his intuition and his rationale, his childlike wonder and his formal government job, his desire to enter into a community with his fear of being close to others. He must bring together the opposing sides of himself in order to overcome his challenge, and his current position, tenuous as we know it to be, would certainly require total reliance on others in order to help him make his journey. 


End file.
